1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a braking system for a vehicle and a method for operating this braking system, in particular for use in hybrid and/or electric vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
A brake input element situated in a vehicle, for example a brake pedal, is conventionally coupled to a brake booster. The brake booster is designed for the purpose, for example, of boosting a brake force exerted by a driver on the brake input element and subsequently relaying the boosted brake force to a brake master cylinder. The brake master cylinder thereupon outputs a boosted pressure signal to the wheel brake cylinders for braking wheels of the vehicle. The brake booster therefore allows the driver to decelerate the vehicle with less force application by operating the brake input element.
An example of a brake booster for boosting a brake force exerted by the driver on the brake input element is a vacuum brake booster or also an electrohydraulic brake booster.
However, the manufacturing costs for a braking system having a brake booster, of whatever type, are comparatively high. In a system having a vacuum brake booster, this is true in particular if a vacuum pump is necessary to produce the vacuum, and the vacuum is not supplied by the internal combustion engine.
It is therefore desirable to have an option for braking a vehicle via an actuation of a brake input element with comparatively little force without a use of a brake booster and nonetheless to provide the driver with a “familiar” brake pedal feeling, i.e., without having to apply a relatively high force to decelerate the vehicle.
A braking system is disclosed in the published German patent application document DE 10 2009 001 401 A1, which does not use a brake booster, but nonetheless has a relatively large number of components, which are linked to additional costs, on the one hand, and require corresponding installation space (packaging), on the other hand.